Long-Range Forecasts for July Promise More Clouds, Rain, and Humidity for Maine

It has a chance to go down as the lost summer of 2023. To this point, the warmest months of the year in Maine haven't lived up to the hype. Instead of long days filled with sunshine, the story of the last couple months has been clouds and rain mixed with uncomfortable humidity. Unfortunately, that doesn't look to be changing any time soon.

Shared on Twitter by Eric Fisher, long-range forecast models are showing all of New England sticking to the same unfavorable pattern. That pattern will cause unstable weather over the next 10-14 days, leaving Maine under the same level of cloud cover that has been the story of the summer. And it's not a story people want to keep hearing.

The above is a forecast model rainfall map for total accumulation through July 22. The more pink and purple the map gets, the more substantial the rainfall has been in the area.

In some ways, it's been a reverse summer for all of New England. Typically, there would be more days of sunshine and warmth than subpar days. There's always the occasional cloudy and rainy day in the summer months, but it's predominantly sun. This summer is the opposite, mostly clouds and rain with the occasional small stretch of sun and heat. If the forecast models are accurate, that won't be changing in July. Certainly not in the next few days.

So what's to blame? Extremes in the jet stream are what's causing problems for New England. Those extremes have left Texas with desert-like temperatures, as well as cooler climates (like Minnesota) battling a series of nearly 90 degree days. It's also left much of the eastern seaboard (all of New England) under a lengthy low pressure system, causing more clouds, more rain, and less sun.